The MSI GT72VR Dominator Pro gaming laptop is available in India, with and without optional Tobii eye tracking system. Here is the GT72VR review of a slightly older version but most of the specifications are the same. This gaming laptop pricing starts from Rs. 219,990.
Unboxing
This MSI GT72VR Dominator Pro Gaming laptop comes with a free laptop bag and a box that contains the laptop, user manual, warranty information, power cord and adapter to charge the 9 cell built in battery.
Design, Display and Features
This is a gaming laptop, don’t expect it to be slimmer or lighter. It weighs around 3.7 KG and is bulky. MSI GT72VR comes packed inside a brushed aluminum alloy chassis, build quality and finishing is very good.
This gaming laptop features a 17.3 inch anti glare screen supporting 1920 x 1080 pixels (Full HD) resolution. The one that I used for the review was with 120Hz refresh rate, this is very good for gaming and gives an advantage when playing games with multi users. Now if you need display with 120Hz refresh rate you need to ask for, its optional and bu default you will get a 60Hz refresh rate screen. Color reproduction is very good (True Colors) and even the viewing angles are pretty good.
MSI GT72VR comes with card reader, SPDIF out, mic in, line in, line out, 5 x USB ports, optical disk drive (BD) and on the back there is DC in, Killer GbLAN, HDMI port, USB Type C 3.1 port and Mini Display port.
Windows 10 runs out of the box with 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD and 1TB SATA HDD. There is built in WiFi, Bluetooth 4.1 and full HD webcam on the front.
The one that I used for the review was with Intel Core i7 6th gen processor with GeForce GTX 1070 GPU (with DDR5 8GB) and it came with Tobii eye tracking system. The MSI GT72VR 7RE that is available is Intel Core i7 7th gen with GeForce GTX 1070 GPU (with GDDR5 8GB) but this laptop comes without tobii eye tracking system, its optional if you need you can ask for.
Unique features
Cooler Booster 4
This technology helps keep the GPU and the CPU temperature under control when over clocking. There is boost button, press it for extreme performance. There are dual cooling fans and up to 7 heat pipes that helps keep the system stable.
VR ready
Any laptop using GeForce GTX 1080 / 1070 / 1060 are VR ready, you can simply connect a VR device.
Multi Task with 3 monitors
If need be you can connect up to 3 monitors (matrix display). Matrix Display supports 4K output.
Nahimic 2
This technology was used by French army incorporated into their fighting aircraft training simulators. Nahimic 2 is perfect for sound processing, audio improvement and for eliminating background noise. The sound processing, specially noise cancellation is very impressive.
Dynaudio
MSI GT72VR makes use of Dynaudio 4+1 speakers that gives awesome and loud sound experience. There is no need to spend extra money on external speakers. This is more than enough.
SteelSeries Engine 3
The SteelSeries Engine 3 works really great during game play. It gives users options to not only customize the keys but they can also play around with the colors. Check the video review to see the SteelSeries Engine 3 keyboard in action with Counter Strike game.
MSI Dragon Center
This allows users to set the GPU / CPU to optimal levels – and over clocking as per their needs.
Tobii Eye Tracking
This is a unique feature, on the front you will find 3 red circular light that’s the Tobii eye tracking. This technology gives you the ability to use your eye for selection (for example look at what you want, in games you can look at the target and shoot). Now it works great with some games. There are few games as of now that supports Tobii.
Assassin Creed is one game that you can play with eye tracking itself. The game that I tried was the Rise of Tomb Raider it also supports Tobii to some extent – look at target to aim, look around etc. Do check the video review to see the game in action and to get an idea about how the Tobii system works.
Tobii Eye tracking is fantastic but it may not be of great help when you are engaged with multiple enemies, cause there are times when you are shooting at a subject but you might look around quickly to select the next target.
Other features
Killer Ethernet that prevents lag spikes when playing online multi player games. MSI offers XSplit Gamecaster for free for a period of 1 year, it lets you broadcast your game play on YouTube, uStream, Twitch etc.
Performance
The 3D mark 11 score was between 11,000 to 15,000. The performance was very smooth, Counter Strike played well but the Rise of Tomb Rider was a new experience with the Tobii eye tracking system.
It takes time getting used to it, it is good for sometime but after few minutes or hours you might want to switch that off when playing games, this will vary from game to game.
The MSI GT72VR comes with a 9 cell battery that gives decent battery life, but when playing high end games it makes sense to connect to a power source.
A very good buy if you are a hardcore gaming user and this MSI Gaming laptop does come for a price of Rs. 2,19,990.
Rating 4.3 out of 5
The one that I used for the review is the MSI GT72VR 6RE Dominator pro with 6th Gen i7 processor available for Rs. 2,27,643.
Another model the MSI GT72VR 7RE Dominator Pro without Tobii and with 7th Gen i7 processor is available for Rs. 2,19,990.